The politics of our day can seem to be more chaotic than most of us are able to remember. However, I’m sure our American forebears who lived during the middle of the 19th century would be able to tell us of far more divided and perilous times. I am exceedingly thankful that Americans are not promoting an actual war with one another.
Reading and thinking about history can help us gain a better perspective of our own day, and one of my favorite periods of history to learn about is the time of the Protestant Reformation. Whether you are Protestant or Catholic (or maybe you don’t want to claim either label), one must acknowledge the reality that a lot changed in the western world during the 1500s. Not only was the religious landscape dramatically revolutionized, so too did the political arrangements of the previous era become upended all across the western map.
Exactly 500 years ago, in 1523, a German monk who became a leading Protestant reformer published a short pamphlet titled “Temporal Authority: To What Extent It Should Be Obeyed.” Martin Luther had been an eager learner as a Roman Catholic monk of the Augustinian order. But in 1517 he began publicly critiquing what he believed were bad religious practices. In fact, it was on Oct. 31, 1517, that Luther nailed his now famous 95 theses to the door of the castle church in Wittenberg. And in 1521, Luther was formally indicted by the Roman Church and the Roman emperor. But Luther stood his ground and history shows that the cultural and religious momentum was on his side (at least in Germany).
One of the reasons Luther was so popular among many in Germany was that he advocated for an increased authority for local nobles and magistrates, as opposed to total subordination to the imperial leaders of the Roman state and church. However, Luther did not promote a kind of local tyranny that would simply replace the oppressive rule of the distant masters. Luther said, “our (local) rulers… actually think they can do – and order their subjects to do – whatever they please.” But, said Luther, “They are thereby presumptuously setting themselves in God’s place, lording it over their subjects’ consciences and faith and schooling the Holy Spirit according to their own crackbrained ideas.”
Luther was often a bit pugnacious in his writing and preaching, but his point was clear. He did believe local rulers should be obeyed, but not absolutely. Luther believed God had ordained the civil institution of government and he also believed God’s law (as revealed both in nature and Scripture) ought to regulate the state.
The American system of government was established two and a half centuries later with a greater sense of religious liberty than any European state in the 16th century, but Luther and many other Protestants were already advocating for a kind of government that did not “suppress” the “Christian faith” as far back as the 1500s. In fact, one can read of episodes in the Bible itself where Christians stood in the face of state magistrates to say that God must be obeyed, even when that means disobedience to the law of the land.
Throughout history, Christian leaders have regularly called for Christians to live as the best citizens of their nation. Christians have not always lived like this in practice but they have often promoted virtue and charity in ways that stand out among their contemporaries. But Christians have never promoted an absolute submission to state laws, especially when the state sets itself up in opposition to God and Scripture. For Christians, God’s commands are supreme.
